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Joined May 2022
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Good read Maso
If I can just add two more facets:
Everyone remembers Joey’s “NSW doesn’t get Origin” meltdown, but few remember his response when Vautin asked him if he’d like to take over as coach – “I just don’t need that kind of stress in my life”.
The NSW media absolutely torpedoes every series (often before it begins) to the point that even Andrew John’s passion can’t stomach it.
Contrastingly Slater did the unthinkable and dropped Gagai, who really only uses the NRL to warm up and down for Origin, and the Qld media called it brave.
But the other thing holding NSW back? It never thinks it’s fighting against a bigger brother, up against the odds, having to pull off a miracle.
Queenslanders like Tom Dearden are just overcome with the honour and the responsibility, and for 80 minutes they’re desperate to be worthy of it.
So while Joey’s eyeballing the journalistic meat grinder, Allan Langer doesn’t care who’s laughing – he’ll fly around the country to run drinks if he thinks it might make a difference.
Somewhere in there is the spirit that apparently doesn’t exist.
'Attitude and loyalty surpass strength and speed': The Blues need to 'out-Queensland' the Maroons to have Origin success
Good article but test cricket is a game like no other, at least for older Australians.
The battle against the Poms is like playing against the dad that taught you everything you know. The satisfaction in being able to smash him around the park will always unique.
India, while we certainly have respected great players over the last 80 years, can’t get into the Australian psyche anything close to the same way.
Playing in India, your players of Pakistani heritage are ridiculously held up on entry. The practice games are on pitches that don’t resemble their test pitches. The test pitches are different on one side because you brought a lot of left handed batsmen. The DRS interpretations become ‘unusual’. The crowds greet their team’s every boundary with the fever of a Maradona World Cup goal but are rapidly absent when the going gets tough – and their team has almost no history of fighting back from dire positions.
When touring Australia, the English Cricket Board are gracious visitors, agreeable to being led from the traditional Gabba ambush to a Mitchell Starc slaughter under lights in Adelaide. The BCCI does not tolerate any visiting conditions to their disadvantage.
To round out the laundry list, we’re watching men’s international cricket break down before our eyes because of the meaningless cash grabs led by the IPL – that has the audacity to draft contracts to stop players playing for their country if it would interfere with their IPL preparations.
Or maybe it’s just me…
Australia vs India: A stronger Test rivalry than the Ashes down under in recent times?
This is a big mistake – it’s like no one has considered the weather at all.
Have a look at the losses at the Gabba – they’re not November losses.
They’re when curators have had to change to pitch preparation in Brisbane’s wet season (when a foot of rain can fall during a commercial break). The Indians were no mugs to refuse the Adelaide day/nighter, DRS, and the Gabba in November of 2020.
In Perth on the other hand, we refuse to let it rain from October to April, and the locals still have too big an AFL hangover to get excited about cricket at the start of the season.
Australian cricket 2024-25 schedule CONFIRMED: Perth usurps Gabba 'fortress' for opening Test against India
The Qld government needs to be very very careful here.
Caesars that knock down Colloseums don’t last long.
Suncorp Stadium could be knocked down as Brisbane's Olympic fiasco takes another twist
I’m surprised at all the Jones hate.
You don’t fluke your way to that all time Australian record of 210 runs in India at a stronger strike rate than this year’s Bazball while making yourself so ill it permanently affects your health afterward.
That was so far before DRS and international ex-bowler umpires, when any hit on the pads during a 330 ball stay was an immediate death sentence.
You’d have to show me a double ton against the best of the Windies to be more impressive.
The Dean Jones example that Australian selectors must avoid in regenerating ageing Test squad
The thing you’d season Khawaja’s words with is that he was silent when Ukrainians were suffering and has clarified he’s standing for those who ‘don’t have a voice’ in the Israel-Hamas war, so his stance isn’t as universal as advertised.
There’s nothing wrong with his stance of course, but if the ICC doesn’t have a line somewhere, players will quickly have Support Tibet/Taiwan, Save the whales/Daintree, Jail Trump/Biden, etc OR become scrutinised for not having such symbols/messages on their kit.
'Makes no sense': Khawaja slams ICC charge over first Test armband protest as Albanese goes into bat for opener
Very nicely put together.
Of course any batsmen who played against the legendary West Indies quicks with a new ball will swear every run they scored should be scaled at x4, so David Boon is obviously the greatest of all time!
I’m surprised Sanath Jayasuriya doesn’t jump up your ‘best 10 years’ rankings. It seemed at one point he was terrorising opening bowlers even more effectively than Gilchrist & Hayden.
And someone please tell the Indian fans they’re completely correct – they had the better team on paper.
But the only thing Aussies like more than a talented player is someone who looks deep inside when it’s crunch time and finds a new level of fight.
That’s what was on display in the fielding in the finals, snuffing out Indian boundaries and suffocating them with pressure until even the unstoppable Kohli had a ball slip through.
Paper giants? - how to rank the best ever ODI batsmen
Well thought through Mary, and Reynolds is the choice that was mad to ignore.
But you’re definitely showing your NSW side when you mention personal pride and love of winning as the only motivators for Moses.
Tom Dearden knew he was only keeping the chair warm for Munster last July, but was overwhelmed with the honour and responsibility of playing for the people of Qld.
Why Reynolds would have been a better option for Blues as Moses faces a no-win situation
Winless in India? Meh. It’s India. They’ve never been remotely interested in a fair contest.
Winless in the Ashes – with 4 form batsmen and the best bowling attack in the world? Brave call.
'Hardening up' is a relic of the past, and while a 'fake tough guy act' worked for AB the cricket world has moved on
I think there’s one factor AB’s missed as well – today’s top cricketers play a ridiculous amount. They have to ramp up and down, mentally and physically, so much quicker between tours, tournaments and games now.
Win a World Cup? Great, but there’s another one X months away, and 3 formats in 3 countries to play first.
Losses and wins speed past so quickly even Border wouldn’t be able to keep his intensity constantly dialled up to 10.
Modern cricketers have to enjoy what they’re doing to not burn out. This is what Langer couldn’t grasp – because battle is his happy place.
'Hardening up' is a relic of the past, and while a 'fake tough guy act' worked for AB the cricket world has moved on
After decades of Qld being whipped with its own players and underrepresented in national sides, our appetite for Blues’ tears is endless… we sprinkle them on our cereal. ;P
Origin eligibility is never black or white, it's always Maroon
Great statistical analysis.
But why club stats aren’t as relevant as one would expect is probably connected to how much a player views Origin as essentially a meaningless all-star game.
The expert out of the two squads on this relevance would be unquestionably Mr Dane Gagai, who seems to treat his whole NRL season as only pretraining for this time of year.
No-go Cobbo, Ponga v Walsh, RCG ahead of Jurbo: Who the stats say should be picked for Origin
It’s sad to see such a talent robbed by injury, but in the same breath it’s hard not to see some karma at work in the career killing injury he dealt to Smith.
Of course Smith is still playing, but he hasn’t been the perfectly balanced Smith for a second since that day.
The possibiliy of Jofra Archer's career coming to an early end will rob cricket of a bowler with so much talent